House Vigihan
House Vigihan is a Major House of the Avance Coalition. Brief History The house has had it’s ups and downs over the past few centuries. Once a major house, with finance and commerce links all over the universe, recent problems such as mineral shortages, popular uprisings and heavy import duties have all made their impact. Still honourable, with a proud name, the house was strengthened even more when an exiled Corellian noble house merged with it. Now, with the manpower, finances and capital available, House Vigihan has become one of the minor houses in the Avance Coalition. Extended History In the time of the Old Republic, when the Sith and the Jedi fought each other, when people lived a simpler life and subjugation was not the norm, a noble family grew. At that time, the family’s commercial ventures was limited to mining crystals. At first, they were just picking the crystals off the floor of some land they owned, but as time went on, they were blasting for it. With transport costs rising, the family decided to move their finished product themselves, and bought a small fleet of freighters. Soon, their crystals were used all over the sector, and some of the freighter commanders were getting requests for transportation. Another commercial success was just around the corner. The transport business proved even more profitable, and the family moved onwards and upwards. With a heightened alert status between two nearby sectors, The transports were diverted to provide refugees with a way off, and when the war started, they were used to ferry aid into the war zone, earning the family and the pilots a commendation from the government. Soon, larger and faster ships were purchased, and they were used for more luxurious transportation, and diplomatic work. The company refused to lower its moral stances on anything, and would lose out if it meant maintaining it’s honour. Centuries passed, and as production methods became cheaper, so did the finished products. Hyperdrive capable starships now were within the affordability of most people, and bulk passenger transportation was waning. Still refusing to sacrifice even one virtue, they converted their freighter fleet to luxury passenger transport between the luxury places of the universe, even creating hotels and helping to found resorts. Once again, the family strengthened its financial position, until galactic civil war broke out. Vigihan was hit hard as all sides needed the resources that they were mining, but they refused to sell to any military. Passenger transport was cut, and the familial rule system fell to local governments. Politics and wars were the norm, but Vigihan sat alone in their pacifism and neutrality. They were forced to move their base of operations form the expensive capital city location to a space-station on the edge of their territory. When the open warfare ended, they tried to pick up again, but found the universe had polarised into sector governments, each imposing transport and trade tariffs. The head of the house sold half the transport fleet, and used the money to fund a finance company. They leant money to individuals and small companies starting up, and needing to buy vehicles and starships. They also acted as a consultancy service, guiding others as to the danger of trading and transporting goods and passengers through various territories. Fifteen years of lending money caught up with them finally when two of the organisations they leant money too, were destroyed and their assets seized by pirates. Fearing stagnation and bankruptcy, they were thrown a lifeline when the Avance Coalition formed. They came on board as one of the minor houses, further strengthened with the merger of an exiled Corellian noble family, who also had transport links and some assets. House Vigihan now is a strong house, hoping to survive anything the universe can throw at it. Organization While House Vigihan is officially part of the Avance Coalition, it operates separately and generally without dictates from Avance. The Archduke, Lord Arklari Clise, refounded the house from a broken, battered state and has brought it into prosperity. The organization is now worth well over one-hundred thirty million credits The House follows a strict moral code, and punishes thieves in its ranks severely. Vigihan follows a seven rank hierarchy: *Archduke *Duke/Duchess *Count/Countess *Marquis *Baron/Baroness *Knight/Dame *Commoner Members are not paid a salary; but rather they are paid 'freelancer style', that is they are paid whenever they do work. Moral Code of the House Vigihan The house is an ancient, noble and honourable institution, stretching back centuries. It’s strict moral code has driven it through good times and bad times, and needs to maintain these morals in order to survive. As a member of House Vigihan, one is expected to uphold the code of honour and morals, and to enforce them. Any violations may result in expulsion from the house. If one has been guilty of any crimes listed here before applying to join the house, then this individual may not be allowed to join unless it can be shown that he has reformed. Freedom The house does not believe in slavery. All members are free individuals organised within a hierarchical chain of command. Members are allowed staff to help them in their work, so long as the staff are salaried and can leave of their own will. Freedom of choice House Vigihan does not force its members to stick to one religion. We respect religious diversity and encourage members to follow their own beliefs. Haven House Vigihan has a haven program, where political refugees and exiles can apply to join. If those seeking haven are actually guilty of a crime and have escaped justice, they shall be held by the Constable and returned to their original place to face punishment. Freedom of settlement House Vigihan allows all races, species and political viewpoints to settle wherever they want as long as they live harmoniously with the others. Freedom of passage Members of House Vigihan have free passage to all the Avance Coalition sectors, systems and planets without being intercepted and searched. Registered vessels may be scanned, unregistered vessels may be searched. Civilian Law The house will not permit any of the following from its members *Death of a sentient being unless though military action or the defense of yourself or others. *Theft of property or resources of any description *Discriminating against any individual on grounds of race, gender, religion, rank, status or any grounds that are deemed unsuitable. *Bullying of any subordinate, including blackmail, threats of any nature, persistent ridicule, forcing a subordinate to perform a task without due reason. *Illegal Trading (see trading law) *Illegal operation of vehicles (see transit law) Civilian law is maintained by the Constable, who will investigate any infringement and pass his findings on to the Counsel of Justice Trading Law The house will not permit any of the following from its members, with respect to trading: *Selling items that do not belong to them, unless specifically asked to do so, on behalf of another house member. *Theft of property through trading – buying an item then upon receipt, not transferring the money. *Illegal financial gain – Selling an item, then on receipt of the money not passing the item on to the buyer. *Buying or selling under a false name in order to circumvent any punishment. *Failure to rectify known mistakes made by traders in the house or outside the house will not be tolerated. *Mis-representing items to be sold either by false or misleading descriptions, sale of goods in an unusable quality, or allowing others to increase the bids on your item if they have no intention of buying. *You can trade with whomever you want but we are not responsible for any lost or stolen property whilst trading with a pirate *Taking bribes to break or circumvent trading laws. Trading law comes under the jurisdiction of the Commercial Director. Transit Law The house will not permit any of the following from its members, with respect to travel and transit: *Piracy of Friendly Ships - You may NOT capture/raid any friendly or neutral ship for cash/the cargo. *Barratry – deliberate wrecking of ships / dumping of cargo to claim insurance *Kidnapping of a Friendly or Neutral – refusal to allow passengers to get off your ship where needed. *Operation of an unsafe starship or vehicle *Operation of an unregistered starship or vehicle Transit law comes under civilian law, and as such is overseen by the Constable and the logistics Director. Definition of a Friendly - Anyone in Avance Coalition, The Wraiths, Rendili StarDrive, Czerka, or Avance's allies if they sign an alliance Definition of a Neutral - Anyone with no relations to SRE/AC Definition of a Hostile - Any ship/vehicle/character with intent to harm SRE/AC or Vigihan Personel/property/any criminal on the run/Pirates that have stolen from us/with intent to steal Punishment House Vigihan does not believe in capital punishment. Anyone found guilty of crimes against the house is liable to a time in prison, a fine, and permanent expulsion from the areas controlled by the house. This can be extended to the entire coalition if needs be. House members contravening rules will be given a demotion, then expelled from the house. Fleeing Avance prisoners found in Vigihan space will be returned to stand trial or face punishment. If the punishment is the Death Penalty, Vigihan may negotiate on the prisoners behalf for clemency to get the death penalty replaced. Black Forest Day Black Forest Day is a memorial day that Vigihan observes to remember the lives lost at the Kashyyyk Massacre, when innocent people were murdered on Kashyyyk without a trial or even confirming their identities, or relations to the hostile party which the Galactic Empire was attempting to punish. It is observed on Day 356 and 357. No work by Vigihan members is done on these Days The one responsible, Tnsumi Shine, has had his crimes repay him. He ran into a sun with a botched Hyperdrive. Mr. Shine was presumed dead at the time; it seemes like fate has taken care of the enemy for Vigihan. Affiliation and Culture House Vigihan is part of the Avance Coalition, it governs the Adega system with the capital world being Vjun. The culture of the planet is a rather awkward one, most likely in part because the population has a rather large percent of Wookiees on the planet. Millions of refugees fled to Vjun after Black Forest Day, and the genocide of the wookiee species. The wookiees are a proud and noble race, but they can be vicious when angered and as such it is definitely a weird social structure on the planet Vjun. There is no 'majority' population (more than 51%) on Vjun, as it was uninhabited before it was colonized by Vigihan and most of its new residents are aliens from a wide variety of planets. The refugees come for many reasons such as fleeing from the Galactic Civil War, Social discrimination, etc. The planet is huge on family orientation. Each city, no matter the size has at least a few community dinners a month. Chances are if one lives on the planet that you know everyone in your section of the city on a first name basis. Vigihan considers alcoholic beverages a basic necessity, and subsidies the production and sale of it (not to mention buys an impressive stock of their own), especially wookiee beverages such as Accarrgm. The architecture of Vigihan is rather impressive. The facilities blend with nature in a true Avance-esque style. For example, the skyscrapers are built in transplanted Worshyr trees (most likely partially influenced by Arklari). No nature is knocked down, beat back, or destroyed in the creation of new cities and facilities. Category:Organizations Category:Families Category:Avance Coalition Category:Soyak-Rainer Enterprises